Dinner Party Dos And Don’ts

Do find out beforehand what your guests don’t like to eat… I’ve served tomato and celery soup to someone who eats everything under the sun, except celery and tomatoes.

Don’t try out exceedingly complicated, new recipes or techniques.

Do remember to include all the ingredients… especially the ones you sent your (long suffering) husband out to get in the middle of the night, as you forgot to add them to your weekly grocery delivery.

Don’t overdo the garlic… unless you’re trapped in a Twilight Saga, there is definitely such a thing as too much garlic, even in garlic bread!

Do keep your eye on the ball, or rather on the oven…. otherwise that incredibly garlicky garlic bread will be incredibly blackened, incredibly garlicky garlic bread.

Do stock up on the pre-dinner nibbles, just in case the food takes longer to cook than you thought it would…. a few years’ back, I kept an (exceedingly patient) dinner guest waiting till nearly midnight to tuck into a chicken that stubbornly refused to roast– a disastrous combination of not having a proper roasting pan and just a mini table-top oven.

Do create an ambient setting, but do watch out for fire hazards…. paper napkins + candles + animated dinner guests = a good way to test your smoke detectors before winter.

Don’t use paper napkins. Ever again.